Pattern mechanism for dobby looms



Oct. 21, 1958 c. THEVENON PATTERN MECHANISM FOR DOBBY LOOMS Filed Match 29. 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 lgzliaivq INVENTOR CHARLES THEVENON 1 ATTORNEY 06L 1958 c. THEVENON 2,856,966

r PATTERN MECHANISM FOR DOBBY LOOMS Filed March 29. 1954 v 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORI CHARLES THEVENON ATTORNEY 'Oct. 21, 1958 Filed March 29. 1954 C. THEVENON PATTERN MECHANISM FOR DOBBY LOOMS 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 full . FIG. 3

INVENTOR CHARLES THEVENON ATTORNEY Oct. 21, 1958 c. THEVENON PATTERN MECHANISM FOR DOBBY LOOMS 4 Sheets$heet 4 Filed March 29, 1954 INVENTOR CHARLES THEVENON ATTOR N EY United States Patent 9 1 2,856,966 PATTERN MECHANISM FOR DOBBY LOOMS Charles Thevenon, Jallieu, France, assignor, by mesne assignments, to Crornpton & Knowles Loom Works, Worcester, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application March 29, 1954, Serial No. 419,321 Claims priority, application France April 27, 1953 14 Claims. (Cl. 139-72) The Crompton & Knowles looms currently used for weaving silks, comprise in their original construction, a mechanism for actuating the dobby including a pattern chain made of cross bars into which pegs or pins are inserted. When weaving long patterns the chain is cumbersome and it is necessary to adopt a particular means of holding and guiding the chain to permit the harness pattern to be obtained. Also, placing the pins I in the bars is a long and tedious process which is eliminated by the present invention.

In an attempt to remedy this inconvenience looms currently use the double index dobby which has two rows of pins per bar and two corresponding actuating fingers and hooks therefor; this is useful for weaving long patterns since this dobby uses only half the number of bars required in a single dobby.

The improvement in the pattern mechanism for looms, which is the object of the invention permits eliminating the large and numerous bars forming the pattern chain by the substitution of a perforated paper pattern of reduced size.

With this as an end, other than the usual means, it is seen that all the fingers having been lifted simultaneously, those which must stay in a raised position so that the harnesses which they control can be actuated, are interrupted in their downward movement by gravity, by the contact of a lever whose position is controlled by the needle, which it is joined to, at the moment when the needle comes in contact with the perforated paper, means having been provided besides this to put out of action the actuating means for the automatic turning of the paper cylinder so as to permit hand operation. Also, an oscillating member relying on a return spring is used to indicate the correct position which the said cylinder must occupy.

In the alfixed schematic diagrams which represent one form of execution of the invention:

Fig. 1 is in perspective and shows a partial view facing the dobby, 1

Figs. 2 and 3 are elevations, respectively, of the rear and front sides of the dobby,

Figs. 4 and'S are views showing the position of the actuating members visible in Fig. 3, in position,'respectively, locked and unlocked, the dobby side not being shown,

Figs. 6 and 7 are the same views after removing the geared wheel which actuates the paper carrying cylinder and its locking members, the dobby side not being shown,

Fig. 8 is a simplified view showing the transmission of motion from the crank shaft to the mechanism whic accomplishes the object of the invention, and

Fig. 9 is a sectional view of the dobby illustrating the operatingmechanism for the harnesses, parts being broken away and certain of the parts omitted for clarity.

According to the invention, beyond or independent of the action by a pattern chain equipped with pegs, the fingers of the dobbyare raised by the members hereinafter described and added to the usual parts of the dobby. The actuating and controlling parts of the invention will now be set forth:

The cylinder 2 with guide pins 3 (Figs. 1 and 2) for threading the pattern produced by perforation of a sheet of paper 4, similar to the Verdol mechanismflthe ice sheet passing on said cylinder whose rotation is imparted by sprocket 5 (Figs. 1 and 3) integral to its shaft 6.

vided with a lip'14 (Fig. .6) which the oscillation of lever 9, in the direction of arrow 15, can place under stud 16 on one side of the corresponding finger 17 in such a way that the latter is intercepted, after having been raised, in downward motion due to its own weight as it tends to return it to its starting position.

The sprocket 5 which causes movement of the paper 4 of the pattern is contacted by a stud 18 mounted at the end of elbow lever 19 oscillating on shaft 21 at the extremity of oscillating lever 22 keyed to shaft 23. The opposite end 24 of elbow lever 19 is actuated by connector 25 pivoted to oscillating arm 26 which drives the knives of the dobby which slide on the parallel dobby sides 27 and 28. r

Between two angular displacements, sprocket 5 must be locked in correct position each time so that paper 4. can be correctly read by needles 8 in contact with it.

This result is obtained bylock mechanism including a stud 29 on locking lever 31 oscillating on center 32 and submitted to the action of a strong spring 33 causing it (stud 29) to drop between two teeth of wheel 5 to hold it in position (Figs. 3 and 5).

After two picks and before its angular displacement, the unlocking of wheel 5 accompanied by the lifting of the needles 8 is effected by the following members:

When stud 18 is raised in the direction of arrow 34 (Figs. 4 and 5) to go between two teeth of wheel 5, its support lever 19 comes in contact with heel 35 of arm 36 oscillating on'center 37. At this'time arm 36 is resting in low position on stop 38 which limits its motion.

This arm 36 is joined at 39 to bar 41 whose upward motion causes, by its finger 42, the disengagement of locking stud 29. Simultaneously, this bar (41) hooks stud 43 of lever arm 44 fastened to shaft 11 on which are also fastened the arms 46 (Figs. 4 to 7), and 47 (Fig. 2) between which is mounted guide bar 48 for needles 8.which bar, when raised, disengages the needles from contact with the perforations of paper 4.

For its operation, this mechanism is actuated by the motion received from the crankshaft of the loom, not shown in the drawings, through the medium of a chain 51 engaged with sprocket 52 keyed to shaft 53 as is Between the ends of this lever 64 and arm 22 is mounted support 21 on which, in their position, rest all the fingers 17 of the dobby, and it results in the simultaneous raising of all the fingers and the lowering of all of the hooks into operative position at each oscillation of levers 22 and 64. At the end of this stroke,.after the raising of the fingers 17, raising of support 19 of stud 18 directly or by means of another stud, causes it to act against heel 35 of arm 36 oscillating as at 37, causing it to pivot in the direction of arrow 65 (Fig. 5) and to raise arm 46. Therise of this arm disengages simultaneously the locking lever .31 and the needles 8 which are raised by guide bar 48.

At the same time, stud 18 engages in its travel a tooth of sprocket 5'. The force causing angular movement of support 19 of stud 18 effecting displacement of the teeth of sprocket 5 is derived fromthe motion of lever 26 trans,- mitted by connector 25 movably mounted on stud 60 and fixed to yoke 66 joinedto arm 24.

Partial rotation of sprocket 5, joined to pattern carrying cylinder 2, has as a, result moving said pattern the equivalent of two rowsof holes. opposite the needles 8 which is equivalent to two picks of filling,

The motion continuing, the levers. having raised the needles 3. return to their starting point permitting these same needles 8 to come down when they are opposite a hole in paper 4, or to stay in. contact with the paper of the pattern. A good indication; of the needles is assured by return springs 12..

Que can. see'that any needle 8 which finds a hole in the pattern causes its lip,14 to. be in its. back position (Fig. 6) permitting. it to, intercept its finger- 17 by the stud 16 at the. moment when support 21 whichv has lifted the finger returns to. itsv starting position, permitting any finger not intercepted to return by; its own weight. When the fingers return the corresponding. hooks are. raised to inoperative position.

At the time of the interception, the studs of fingers 17 are held up by the needles 8 to a point which the hooks of the dobby are in their operativeposition to be caught by the knives. The movements. of the hooks corresponding to fingers 17 held up by their needles. and of the knives ofthe dobby are as usual, the hooks and: knives being original parts of this type. of dobby, as will be described with reference to Fig. 9.

Following the usual procedure of this. type of mecha-. nism, the hooks cause the. raising; of harnesses; which pull the warp threads corresponding to the design in the pattern.

The needles 8' which havent found a. hole, cause no interruption of their fingers 17 and of the hooks, and con sequent-1y imp art no. motion to a harness.

It will be seen (Fig. 6) that, in front of the, needles 8,

facing lip 14, there is placed a guide bar 67 limiting the motion of levers 9 to insure proper running;

In addition to normal running, the mechanism permits, in case of a broken pick, to effect rearward motion or any free movement of the pattern without disengaging any mechanical parts.

To do this, hand lever 69. is turned in. the direction of arrow 68 (Fig. 3) to, rack lever 7 1." which carries a roller 72, to cause said rollerto raise the arm of lever 22 which, in its rise, raises the fingers 17. by means of rod 21 in the same manneras if it had; been actuated; by lower end of rod63.

At the end of the stroke of hand lever 69., connector 7-3, which is joined to it, actuates lever 7.4. which, in. its downward motion strikes heel 75 of arm 36 causing it to-rotate, whichv in turn disengages. the needles 81 from the pattern and the locking stud 29. from gear 5. a

At this moment, roll 72: is engaged in the depression 76 of lever 22 keeping. these parts: disengaged.

All that remains to actuate the. pattern carrying cylinder is to, turn hand. wheel 7 in either direction corresponding to the pick.

Each change in the pattern corresponding-totwo picks is. retained by yielding lock member or roll 77 carried by arm 78. and always returned to its anchoring position in the teeth of gear 5 by a spring similar to a spring 33 but not shown.

The arrangement can be stopped anywhere always corresponding to the normal running of the loom.

In order that application of the invention to the usuaL dobby may. be understood reference is made to Fig. 9. Debby sides 27 and 28 support a rodv 85 on which are pivotally mounted harness levers of which two. are shown at 86. and 87; These. levers are attached in usual manner to. harness frames two. of which are shown at 90 4, i and 91. Jack levers 92 and 93 are connected by pivot pins 94 and' 95' respectively to harness levers 86'and 87 respectivel'y. Each jack lever pivotally supports a top hook 94 and a bottom book 95 tocooperate respectively with oppositely reciprocating knives. 9.6 and 9.7. The dobby fingers 17 are arranged alternately in pairs (one pair for each jack lever), one of said pairs having a horizontalextension 98 on which is supported an upright, wire 99 to coact with a corresponding top hook 94 and the other of said pairs having a vertical extension 1100 to coact with a corresponding bottom hook 95. During loom operation the knives, hooks, harness levers and harness frames operate in a manner well known, in the art, said hooks being s lec iv ly p a ed into. and ou he pa h. their correspondingknife by-the. fingers 17 as described hereinbefore.

The joining of mechanismv to. that of; the regular dobby does not constitute a modification but a complete p rmanent nst l ti hen t. i s d o pe te he dobby with a paper pattern the operation will be as already described, but if it is desired to use the usual peg bar pattern chain driven by the worm 102 and worm wheel 103 shown in Fig 2, the, paper pattern driving means and parts associated with it can be disconnected.

We. augment considerably the possibilities executing the. most diverse patterns.

As onev can see the invention is not limited to the method which has been particularly described for the difierent parts of this mechanism, but it covers also all the. variable methods.

he s ns; a d lo e of; th h oks. o u -s. pr pa atory tothe usual picking operation of the loom.

I claim:

1. A pattern reading and finger controlling unit for a loom dobby having a support; and operating; withapapet pattern and fingers controlling harness, frames, said unit having; a pattern reading needle at one end. thereof for cooperation with the paper pattern and having on the other endthereof a hook for engagement with. a finger and having a part thereof intermediate the needle and hook formed as an open bearing: to. rest on said support, said unit being made of wire partof which extends from the. bearing toward the needle and: another part of which extends from the bearing toward. the hook, said first part being transverse of the needle and said other part:

2. In: a double index dobby: including, two. oppositely reciprocable knives each for the actuation of a. set of hooks operativelyconnected to harness: frames; in. a. loom provided with a pattern, intermittent means to. advance the pattern every. second heat of the loom, a. finger for each hook normally in down position to hold its hook out of thepath of the associated knife but movable to raised position to effect movement of the hook into the path of the knife, lifting and lowering means to lift all of said fingers simultaneously to raised position to efiect movement of all of the hooks into the paths of their respective knives, a finger support for each finger under control of said pattern, means engaging all of said finger supports elfectiveto move them to nonsupporting position in which they are incapable of engaging their fingers, the pattern thereafter causing certain selected finger supports to move toward and engage their fingers tohhold the latter in raised position, the lifting and lowering means. thereafter lowering the nonselected fingers to their normal. down, positions to enable their corresponding hooks to move out of the paths. of their respective knives, manually operated means to put, the intermittent means. out of. action. and permit hand actuation of the pattern, and: a spring controlled oscillating yielding lock member effective to, retain each of the correct positions which said pattern must occupy during said hand actuation of;

the pattern.

port means has a needle atone end thereof for cooperation with the paper pattern and has on the other end thereof a hook to be moved into supporting relation with the corresponding finger, providing the corresponding needle passes through a perforation in the paper pattern.

4. The dobby set forth in claim 2 wherein the pattern is a perforated sheet of paper and wherein each support means has a needle controlled by the paper pattern and wherein all the needles are raised simultaneously away from the paper pattern by means which acts on the support means.

5. The dobby set forth in claim 2 wherein the yielding lock member prevents movement of the pattern between operations of the intermittent means and the lifting means extends under all of the fingers and is operatively connected to the yielding lock member and to the intermittent means and wherein the yielding lock member is moved to unlocking position and the intermittent means advances the pattern simultaneously with lifting of the fingers.

6. The dobby set forth in claim 2 wherein the pattern is a sheet of perforated paper trained over a cylinder which is actuated every second beat of the loom by means of a sprocket which is turned by the intermittent means incident to the rising and falling of the support means by engagement with the teeth of the sprocket and wherein the yielding lock member includes a stud for engagement with the teeth of the sprocket is moved to unlocked position.

7. The dobby set forth in claim 6 wherein the support means includes needles for engagement with the paper pattern and wherein mechanism to move the lock mechanism to unlocked position also moves the needles to a position above the paper pattern.

8. In a double index dobby for a loom having oppositely reciprocating knives and a set of hooks for each knife, said hooks being operatively connected to harness frames, a finger to control the position of each hook movable from a normal down position in which the associated hook is raised out of the path of its knife to a raised position in which the hook is lowered into the path of its knife, the lowered position of a hook corresponding to actuation of the corresponding harness frame, lifting and lowering means acting first to lift all of said fingers to said raised position to cause all of said hooks to be lowered into the paths of their respective knives, pattern means to call the fingers selectively, a support for each finger, means effective to move all of said supportsin a direction away from their fingers to a nonsupporting position relative to the fingers and hold said supportsin said nonsupporting position, intermittently acting means to move the pattern while the supports are held in said nonsupporting position, said supports being thereafter positioned relatively to their fingers by the pattern meanswhile all of said fingers are in raised position, the patternv means effecting movement of the supports corresponding to the fingers called by the pattern toward and into supporting relation with the called fingers and preventing the remaining supports from moving into supporting relation with respect to their fingers, and said lifting and lowering means acting thereafter to lower the fingers corresponding to said remaining supports to lift the hooks associated with the last named fingers out of the paths of their knives.

9. In a double index dobby for a loom having oppositely reciprocating knives and a set of hooks for each knife, said hooks being operatively connected to harness frames, a finger to control the position of each hook movable from a normal down position in which the associated hook is raised out of the path of its knife to a raised position causing the hook to be lowered into the path of its knife, lifting and lowering means acting first to lift all of said fingers to cause all of said hooks to be lowered into the paths of their respective knives, pattern means to call the fingers selectively, a support for each finger, means efiective to move all of said supports away from their fingers to a nonsupporting position relative to their fingers and hold said supports in nonsupporting position, intermittently acting means to move the pattern means while the supports are held in said nonsupporting position, certain of said supports as determined by the pattern means thereafter moving toward and into supporting position with respect to their fingers to hold the latter raised while all of said fingers are in raised position, the hooks corresponding to the fingers thus held remaining in the .paths of their knives, and the lifting and lowering means acting thereafter to lower the remainder of the fingers to cause the remaining hooks to be raised above the paths of their knives, said knives one after the other thereafter moving the hooks in their paths to operate the harness frames corresponding to said raised fingers.

10. A double index dobby as set forth in claim 9 wherein each support includes a hook for engagement with the corresponding finger and the hook is moved to a position where it cannot engage its finger when :all of the supports are moved to nonsupporting position.

11. In a double index dobby as set forth in claim 9 wherein the pattern means is a perforated piece of paper and each support is associated with a needle for cooperation with the sheet of paper to determine whether the support shall occupy a supporting or nonsupporting position.

12. A pattern reading and finger controlling unit for a loom dobby operating with a paper pattern and having fingers controlling harness frames and provided with an elongated support for the unit above the fingers, said unit having a pattern reading needle at one end thereof for cooperation with the paper pattern and having a part thereof extending laterally from the needle formed as an open bearing to rest on said elongated support, and having on the other end thereof a finger engaging hook extending downwardly from said open bearing on the side of the latter opposite to the needle for engagement with said elongated support to limit displacement of the unit in a direction toward the needle in the event said open bearing should move upwardly from said support.

-13. In a dobby for a loom having hooks for the actuation of harness frames and a finger to control the position of each hook movable from a normal down position in which the associated hook is raised to a position inoperative to move a harness frame to a raised position in which the hook is lowered to a position operative to move a harness frame, lifting and lowering means acting first to lift all of said fingers to raised position to cause all of said hooks to be in their operative position, a pattern controlled support for each finger, means to move all of said supports away from their fingers while said fingers are in raised position, and means thereafter to move selected pattern controlled supports toward and into holding position with their fingers while the latter are in raised position, said lifting and lowering means thereafter lowering the nonselected fingers to their normal position and raising the corresponding hooks to their inoperative position preparatory to a picking operation of the loom.

14. The dobby set forth in claim 13 wherein the dobby is of the double index type and the lifting and lowering means operates every other beat of the loom.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,600,128 Reynolds June 10, 1952 2,635,644 Staubli et a1. Apr. 21, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 187,400 Switzerland Feb. 1, 1937 393,208 Great Britain June 1, 1933 427,774 Great Britain Apr. 30, 1935 632,473 Germany July 9, 1936 646,159 Germany June 9, 1937 

